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The national average council rate was 48.92 pence in 2016/17 and the highest was Bassetlaw at 69p per mile.

What mileage rate can you claim?

Research by the TaxPayers' Alliance reveals that 173 councils are giving their employees above the HMRC rate.

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Driving is extremely expensive in Britain thanks to sky-high rates of fuel and vehicle excise duties, but there's no excuse for councils to pay over-the-odds.

"It's simply not credible for councils to plead poverty and raise council tax while paying excessive mileage rates, especially when the Government has told councils to rein in these payments for the past five years.

"No local authority should be paying more than HMRC's approved rate."

Lincolnshire County Council, the City of Lincoln Council, South Kesteven and West Lindsey all pay the 45p a mile rate.

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In Lincoln in 2015/16 and 2016/17, £82,540 and £73,075 were paid respectively, compared to £64,349 and £83,296 in South Kesteven, and £121,433 and £116,228 in West Lindsey. The county council did not provide figures.

Councillor Richard Wright, leader of North Kesteven District Council, said: “Casual car users are entitled to claim 65 pence per mile for the first 8,500 miles a year they do. After this the rate is 16.4p per mile.

“This is set out in the green book – the terms and conditions of Local Government employment.

“It is worth noting that any rate over 45p is taxable, in this case a car user would pay tax on 20p per mile.

“Around 160 of the 360 workforce are essential car users where use of their car is integral to the work they carry out on behalf of the council. Their rate of mileage is much lower than 65p per mile.

“North Kesteven covers an area of 356 square miles, and the authority serves more than 113,000 residents.

“As a high performing low tax organisation, households pay less than £3 a week at Band D and below – the majority in the district – for all of the council’s well-regarded and highly-efficient services."

An East Lindsey District Council spokesman said: "We are actively working to reduce its mileage costs through a range of measures.

"Pool cars are being trialled by officers for use on work business and work out at less than 28p per mile to run.

"The council has recently undertaken a review of its terms and conditions of employment and from January 1, 2018, the mileage rate for all employees who do need to use their own car will reduce to 45p – the HMRC rate.

"The council will also be removing its ‘essential user’ allowance from January, which is paid to those colleagues who are required to make their car available for work."

South Holland said: "We have an agreed policy on mileage rates which has been in place for several years."

Claire Burroughs, human resources and work-based learning manager at the City of Lincoln Council, said: “The council pays 45p per mile to its employees for mileage claims.

“As these figures show, the amount City of Lincoln Council has paid has gone down considerably year on year.

“We have achieved this by encouraging people to car share and to use technology such as Skype and conference calls whenever possible.

“We also have a number of flexible working initiatives in place to help save money and cut down staff mileage.”

A spokesman for West Lindsey said: "For each individual route other alternatives are looked at as well as car sharing, bus, train.

"It really depends where people are going to make sure we get best value for money. We also need to take into account the officer time while they are out of the office."